Is e-book really that effective ?

When I was young, I used to think that reading notes from textbooks and references book is the most convenient way of studying. I guess partially is because I was brought up in the era where books are the most common and essential tool for the education system in school.Therefore, it wasnt a problem reading notes from textbook and references books. Moreover, mainly is because I find it easy to read it straight from the book and it allows me to underline , draw highlight and sketch whatever that comes into my mind on the book. However, as technologies are getting better each days, is hard for us to always stay at our comfort zone, According to Weiner (2011) , she mention that in many school nationwide. educators are transitioning from old-school textbooks to electronic versions.

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Although e-books is known for its convenience and efficiency, however it is known in having a slower path to catch up with the commercial e-books in term of print experience. Alexa (2011) mention in the article that it's not a surprise that e-book have been slower to catch to commercial e-books is because one thing about e-book is it does  not allow highlighting, no notes in the margin and no dog-eared corner to mark a spot as compared to an actual book. According to Penman (1998), a document’s functionality is dependent on its structure matching readers’ habits, expectations and context of use. However, now with e-books provider like CourseSmart and Inkling, it has allows student or readers to look and read in the same way with printed textbook at a slow pace. This statement was said by the CMO of CourseSmart , Jill Ambrose who stated that CourseSmarrt enables all students, whether they are using a digital or print edition, to literally be on the same page. In the article, Alexa also claims that e-textbooks are going to take off in the next decade.

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Walsh (2006, p24) mentioned multimodal text inthat reading through an electronic and digital screen there are added combinations of movement and sound. Walsh also quoted Kress (1996), Health (2000) and Beame (2003) and stated that the screen and multimodal texts have developed a new literacy for the student. I personally feel that, e-books in the tablets form are so much like a normal textbook that you bring to school everyday, but with more function and efficiency. It is handy where you can carry an e-book that is equivalent to 300 pages of textbook. So much more lighter, handy and easy accessible,

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In conclusion, there are advantage and disadvantages when it comes toe-books. Some people may still prefer reading and looking through the old and traditional way and yet some may want to catch up with the latest trend and technology.However, each form has its own benefit to an individual. I personally still thinks that e-books has make it easier for me in terms of education.




References List

1. Weiner. H, 2011, Tablet versus Textbook, viewed on 4th November 2011, <http://www.michiganreview.com/archives/3314>

2. Walsh. M, 2006, The "textual shift":Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no.1, pp.24-37.

3. Alexa. C, 2011,How E-textbooks, Online Modules Could Keep Journalism Education Current. viewed on 5th November 2011,

4. Penman, R 1998, Document structures and readers’ habits, Communication news, vol.11, no. 2, pp. 10-11.